(This is a different preview. There was no hands-on time with BioShock Infinite, so here are some screenshots from that demo with me filling in the blanks.) This is Elizabeth. She’s pretty right? With light-blue eyes, a short bob cut… Continue Reading →

(This is a different preview. There was no hands-on time with BioShock Infinite, so here are some screenshots from that demo with me filling in the blanks.)

This is Elizabeth. She’s pretty right? With light-blue eyes, a short bob cut and a guileless demeanor, she has a personality that’s best described disarmingly charming. Sadly, the 20-year-old woman has been locked in the central tower of floating city called Columbia for the past 15 years. Her only companion is a creature/being/thing named Songbird. Unlike Elizabeth, the creature isn’t pretty. In fact, it’s quite the opposite. The thing is a hulking machine-beast that soars through the air and tosses people around as though they were playthings.

This picture in is taken in the Emporium. It’s a refuge of sorts, a place where Booker DeWitt (That’s going to be you.) can take a break from being chased by madmen, revolutionaries and, of course, Songbird. While they take shelter, DeWitt sees just how childish and naive a 20-year-old woman can be. Obviously, she doesn’t get out much. She thinks a bronze bust is made of gold. She enjoys playing with knickknacks and trinkets in the store. Meanwhile, Dewitt picks up a bottle of Bucking Bronco liquor.

They hide out there for a moment until Songbird shines its eerie light and leaves. Before DeWitt and Elizabeth escape, too, she tells him, actually makes him promise, that he won’t let her go back to Songbird. She grabs DeWitt’s hand and pulls his fingers toward her. It isn’t a sign of affection. She puts his hand around her throat and says, “Going back to Songbird is like death.” or something to that effect. For all her perceived innocence, Elizabeth does have some dark and troubling thoughts. She is desperate.

So you have to figure, why would anyone lock up a girl for so long? I don’t think she’s done anything bad. I doubt that she is a cannibal. But this picture reveals why she’s so important. This horse is dying and Elizabeth tries to heal it. But her power doesn’t exactly work that way. In some odd miracle, the woman can turn back time.

It’s not a full-blown change in the whole fabric of reality. She can localize it, and that’s what she’s trying to do to this dying horse. She’s trying to reverse time around it and create a tear. See that burnt ground behind her? It flashes green like it was never scarred by explosions. The horse itself turns another color. It looks all right for a moment. Elizabeth keeps saying she can control her power, but she can’t. Things go haywire and suddenly she jumps into the future.

It’s 1983 to be exact. You can tell by the marquee on the theater that magically sprung up behind her. It says Revenge of the Jedi, which was the original title of Return of the Jedi, before George Lucas thought better of it. Elizabeth doesn’t know when she is. How could she? She hears a big rig coming her way, and right before it’s about to hit her, she melts away into her own time, which is 1912, give or take a few months.

I do not know who the man getting shoved is. Hey may be someone who supports the Founders or just an innocent by-stander trying to get by. But the thing to note here is the Vox Populi banner flapping in the background. That’s the name of the revolutionaries trying to take over Columbia. Originally, the Vox Populi began as a peaceful protest group against the oligarchical Founders, but as the movement grew in power, the activists thought that they could run things.

It seems like the situation has spiralled out into a civil war, and just imagine, all of this started in China. Columbia had been built as a symbol of American exceptionalism. It was a flying world’s fair, but Columbia took a dark turn when the residents there fired on an unarmed populace during the Boxer Rebellion. After that, the United States disavowed the place and it’s been floating around, lurking in the skies like a city full of boogiemen.

Contrast that Vox Populi banner with this one for Comstock, who coincidentally is the guy DeWitt and Elizabeth are trying to reach. He’s also the leader of the Founders. His portrait looks classically American. His face looks like it belongs on money. Meanwhile, the Vox Populi banner that’s shown above has a Maoist feel to it. Maybe the two sides represent the extreme left and the extreme right.

Regardless, both factions do some horrible things. For example, DeWitt comes across a crowd and they’re going to execute a man for his affiliation. DeWitt has the choice of stopping that from happening. It’s a subtle decision, less blatant. It’s not like grabbing a Little Sister and determining if she lives or not.

These Vox Populi attackers remind me of the flying monkeys from The Wizard of Oz. In a single file, they swoop along these windy, twisty rails and leap toward DeWitt and Elizabeth. You can see a portion of the aforementioned rail on the lower corner of the picture. This Sky-Line is how items are shipped around Columbia. These elevated rails carry boxes full of products, and DeWitt and Elizabeth take advantage of this.

The two are a team. They work together to survive. Elizabeth uses her powers to create rifts and bring in turrets or other objects into the world. Unlike other partner-themed games (The Prince of Persia remake comes to mind.), the relationship seems to be more even. DeWitt can use his plasmids to hold up Vox Populi attackers in the air and Elizabeth can open tear and let a rail car crash into them. When he’s not running around and sending crows to keep enemies at bay, DeWitt can use rifted-in turret to take down enemies.

There’s a zeppelin in DeWitt’s crosshairs. He can fire on it, but I doubt that will do much. To take that thing down, he’ll have to ride the rails. I have no idea how Irrational Games intends to do this using a controller. I don’t know if it’s a press of a button or an action sequence that automatically activates once you reach a certain point in the level, but DeWitt uses his Sky-Hook and zips down the railway toward the aircraft. Vox Populi members give chase, and the whole sequence reminds me of a roller coaster except firearms, bullets and explosions are involved.

DeWitt dips and rises. He twists and turns. Again, there’s a lot going on here. Eventually, he does get on that zeppelin and sabotages it. He kills a few enemies while he’s at it and jumps (This man is crazy.) and somehow manages to attach his Sky-Hook to a rail and keeps on going. What fascinates me most is the seamless transition between rail-flying, landing, attack and rail-flying again. If Irrational can make this feel right with a controller in hand, then it’ll be one of the more impressive achievements in the game. Quite frankly, it looks complicated.

Unfortunately, I don’t have a last photo to show you. But here’s the gist of it. DeWitt and Elizabeth do manage to get away from the Vox Populi and they’re on their way to Comstock Tower. He wants to get paid. She wants her freedom. It’s a mutually beneficial relationship. Things are almost going to plan until Songbird finally catches them.

The creature treats DeWitt like a punching bag for a while. For all his rail-flying heroics, he seems like a deflated version of Popeye when he tries to fight the thing. DeWitt is going to die. The machine beast is going to deal the final blow when Elizabeth stops the creature. She says she will return to the tower if Songbird doesn’t kill DeWitt. The monster acquieses, I suppose seeing nothing wrong with this. It takes her and leaves.